


A Growing Garden

by Ember_Eyes_are_for_Tigers



Series: (Not Bruised, just) Party Tattoos [1]
Category: Not Another D&D Podcast (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Gen, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-06-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:48:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24880315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ember_Eyes_are_for_Tigers/pseuds/Ember_Eyes_are_for_Tigers
Summary: His first year of college at the Gladeholm University can only be described as a dumpster set on fire with a dramatic violin as soundtrack to Beverly's hopes and dreams destroying themselves in front of him. Most of which was, without a doubt, the fault of his terrible dorm roommate.However, at the beginning of his second year, Beverly makes the decision of moving into an apartment with two other strangers, and although he doesn't know much about it doesn't take him long to understand that they're about to bring along a complete different series of problems.
Relationships: Erlin Kindleaf/Beverly Toegold V, Moonshine Cybin & Hardwon Surefoot & Beverly Toegold V
Series: (Not Bruised, just) Party Tattoos [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1800310
Comments: 8
Kudos: 34





	A Growing Garden

Beverly didn’t exactly know how he had ended up in this shitty apartment. Although, at the time, when he was given the chance to either remain in the even shittier dorms or to find an apartment, he would have done truly anything to get out of that building.

In fact, he had resided for one entire year in the college dorms before calling curtains.

Between people having loud sex in the room next door, loose chickens at two am that somehow always managed to barge into his room leaving feathers everywhere and eating all of his cereals ( ~~never his roommate’s cereals~~ ), his roommate practising his terrible saxophone skills _only_ at five am when he was trying to fall asleep, and the guy next door that joined with his trumpet after four months- it was a surprise that Beverly had managed to survive for as long as he had. 

In only a couple of months it had been revealed to be one of the worst decisions of his life. And, of terrible decisions, Beverly was an expert of.

So, after miraculously passing the year, his first course of actions was to scour for as many advertisements on apartments and roommates as he could he find. The results weren’t particularly thrilling or fitting. Except for one.

Beverly hummed nervously under his breath, staring in front of him at the closed door of the apartment he would reside for the rest of the year. Or, maybe more. He wasn’t quite sure yet.

Setting his suitcase near the entrance, and being careful to not knock out any of the potted plants (or, at least, some of them had plants growing on them, others were just full of a rich and dark soil), he started fumbling with the key the landlord had given him.

He remembered receiving it and how the landlord, a fit woman with white hair named Shae, had stared right in his eyes, unblinking, and said that he better not lose the key or a fate worse than death would befall on him. Beverly, who knew how clumsy he could be, had chuckled and hoped that Shae had just been kidding. Although, the glint in her eyes said otherwise.

Before he could use the key, though, the door opened from the inside, revealing a tall, gorgeous woman with dark skin, black unruly hair and brilliant green eyes. She was holding, what looked like a possum, although it seemed far too feisty to be healthy and Beverly was fairly certain that animals were not allowed in the apartment complex. _Especially_ possums.

“Oh, hey! It’ the youngin’! Bev, right?”

Beverly blinked a couple of second, before grinning and saying:

“Yeah! I’m Beverly Toegold the Fifth, the new roommate. I was supposed to come today!”

“Of course! Please enter! We’re all ‘bout hospitality here, especially to new roomies,” she stepped aside, letting him enter, suitcase following suit.

The living room was spacious enough, with a bright aquamarine sofa with various blankets of varying texture and colour in one corner, pretty big windows, in another corner, a kitchen, which seemed used but, surprisingly dirty, and a door to the corridor that gave to the bedrooms and the bathroom. It was cozy, especially with the potted plants and potted… dirt around.

“Hope that you ain’t scared of possums! Pawpaw here can be rather frighten’ ‘round people he doesn’t know, y’know? Bitin’ all over the place, especially strangers that seem scary,”

Beverly nodded and looked at the possum, Pawpaw, in the woman’s arms. Moonstone, was it? No, Moonstone was the street, not the woman.

He refrained to say that he had indeed gotten his animal handling badge back when he was a Green Teen and therefore he shouldn’t have too many problems with handling Pawpaw. However, one of the lessons he had apprehended in his first year of college, was that people found him mentioning the Green Teens awfully annoying. ~~Or, at least, that was what his roommate always told him.~~

So, instead, he said:

“Don’t worry! I love animals!”

The woman smiled brightly, and, for the first time since he had decided to move out of Galaderon for college, he had the distinct feeling he had made the right choice. For once.

“Well, young Bev, your room is right down the corrido’! Me and Pawpaw here were ‘bout to head out to the Glitterin’ Lady and Hardwon won’t return for a couple of hours still, so, get comfy and make the place feel more like home!” 

With that, the woman and Pawpaw left the apartment, leaving Beverly alone. 

He went down the corridor, searching for the spare room, as he did he passed the others.

The first one had the door flung open and Beverly could safely say that the room belonged to the woman he had just met. Even with having met here for only a couple of minutes, he could tell that the room just screamed her name by the various plants around the room, the scattered clothes (which were mostly overalls) on the ground and the photos that were stuck on a cardboard board on one of the walls.

After the bathroom, there was a closed door- probably the room of Elias, who he had not yet met, even when he had come to check out the apartment a month prior.

The next rooms that followed were two bedrooms, the first one was clean, without any sort of personality, the second resembled a closet far more than a bedroom. With objects stacked on the walls and on the floor, making it look like it were the pillars of books that was maintaining the roof above their heads.

Beverly moved into the first, immediately starting to get his belongings organised in the room.

He hadn’t brought a lot of stuff, he had to admit. When he had packed a part of him had expected to move back into the dorm room with it’s wardrobes that looked fairy sized and that his roommate wouldn’t stop hogging. 

Nevertheless, this room was spacious, and he found himself easily imagining studying on the desk in one corner of the room. Hopefully not until too late, as Erlin has already warned him that if he would keep up the unhealthy habits he would come down to Gladeholm and tell him off. Although, both of them knew that Erlin had even worse habits, like his tremendous sleeping schedule, that only made him an hypocrite.

A cute and worried hypocrite, that Beverly already found himself missing, but, a hypocrite nonetheless.

It still felt weird to him how distant they now were, even after a year. They had spent their entire childhoods living side by side, quite literally, in fact, since their houses were so close that Beverly only had to climb a tree to reach the roof of the house where Erlin lived. Which he used to do often as they had found out that staying out on the rooftops, watching the dark sky, was far more enjoyable than the nightmares Erlin used to have.

He sighs, continuing to unpack his belongings until it’s an hour later and the room, although still far too organised to be his, starts having that Bev Vibe. And, for maybe just a moment, he feels the tightness in his muscles relax, manages to breathe in the change and, maybe, he can find himself enjoying it.

The woman, which he might as well start calling the Pawpaw owner (although, that possum acted as if it didn’t need an owner), had told him that Hardwon, the third roommate, would be coming back to the apartment in a couple hours, implying that he would be free to explore. Which, he did.

Although there was no real reason to sneak, Beverly found himself quietly entering the living room and walking towards the kitchen in the corner. He began opening the various cupboards, in the search for something he could potentially snack on, or, even just see if there were any appliances around. He hoped that if he did find something it wasn’t a secret stash that everyone was forbidden from eating.

Beverly had already made that mistake, and it hadn’t ended well.

As his treasure hunt progressed, without too much avail, the door of the apartment swung open. At the threshold there stood a man with broad shoulders and an intricately braided thick beard that seemed to cover most of his face, except for his eyes that were covered by some thick lenses of aviator goggles. 

He might have looked intimidating if he weren’t holding in his hands, that were nearly as big as Beverly’s entire head, a tiny potted flower which looked comically small. 

The man, his second roommate, delicately placed the potted plant on the messy table, and taking off his goggles he smiled at Beverly.

"Beverly, right?"

"Yep! Beverly Toegold the Fifth. You're Elias, I'm guessing?"

"Yeah, although, call me Hardwon,"

The new roommate, Hardwon, proceed to taking off his heavy jacket, clearly an old thing with far too many holes and mismatched patches to be considered even a couple of years old.

Beverly wasn't one accustomed to feeling awkward and, if he did, he used to hide it with goofs that his father would usually frown upon. (It had been just his luck that one of his Professors, Watchman by surname, which he would be stuck with even this year, had his father's same sense of humor and the moment Beverly had stepped inside the classroom a year prior, he had immediately clocked him as a troublemaker and had decided to make his life a living hell. Who knew that even college Professors were petty as fuck)

"This is a cutie pie, what's their name?" he asked, walking closer to the table to inspect the little blue flower, a bluebell, he guessed.

A couple of seconds of silence fell in the apartment, only apparent by the few cars passing outside and footsteps at the higher floors.

"Huh, I'd never thought of naming them. I usually... uh, buy them for Moonshine, she studies something with plants and fungi. I'm not quite sure,"

Beverly nodded, well, at least that resolved two mysteries. The one with the potted plants strewn around and the name of the first roommate.

"I know that Moonshine studies at the Gladeholm college too, do you take any courses?"

If Hardwon hadn't already looked pretty nervous, now his awkwardness seemed to double and, as he rubbed the back of his neck he answered:

"Oh, heh, no, no, no. I'm not a nerd, I don't need to study, or whatever,"

"That's alright! I didn't want to imply that you were-"

"Gotta go," and with such, Hardwon left the living room, sprinting towards the hall and supposedly hiding himself in his room.

Beverly sighed and, being left alone in the chaos that was the kitchen, he returned to scavenge for snacks.

* * *

Moonshine returned a couple of hours later, tired but grinning ear to ear. 

“I bought Indian take away!”

To Beverly’s surprise, the living room table got cleared, all of the stacked papers and the tiny bluebell disappearing into the disaster that was the rest of the apartment. 

Moonshine kicked her shoes off and went to place the plastic bags on the now free table, the aroma of the food already filling the room, as Beverly took a couple of plates and glasses.

“Sorry, ‘bout not cookin’, youngin’. Usually I quite enjoy cookin’ somethin’, but, as I were returnin’ from the Glitterin’ Lady I couldn’t stop myself, so, I hope you like it. I didn’ know much ‘bout your spice tolerance, so, I bought a bit of everythin’,” said Moonshine, beginning to serve open the various boxes and serve herself.

“Wouldn’t want to repeat a Hardwon, ain’t we?” 

Hardwon flushed and not for any sort of spice (as he was, in fact, eating something that Beverly could easily pin down as having a tamer taste), spluttering incoherently as Moonshine grinned wider.

“That was _one_ time,”

“It was at least four times, last time I counted,”

“And I’ve grown a better resistance to spices. Watch me!”

Hardwon winked at Beverly as he flung himself over a dark red dish, shoveling food in his mouth and becoming more flush by the second. Beverly continued eating, observing the man in front of him, with something that felt like intimidating reverence, as he watched a disaster on the happening. 

“You’re quite red, do you want somethin’?” asked Moonshine, who, he noticed, was eating the same dish as Hardwon and barely flinched.

“N-no, I’m _fine_ ,” he gasped out, and Beverly quietly slipped away to pour a glass of a half carton of milk he had seen previously during his endeavours. When Moonshine saw him coming back and placing the glass in front of the suffering man, she smiled and ruffled his hair. 

“Good call, youngin’, and if you ain’t able to finish don’t worry, we’ll just put them in the fridge for tomorrow,”

“Well, it’s not the first time I had to help someone from reckless eating. I did earn my Cautious Eater badge for a reason,”

“A badge?”

“Yeah! I was part of the Green Teens back home, basically boy scouts only Galaderon edition,”

“Oh hell, youngin’! You didn’t tell me you came from Galaderon! Hardwon always-” she stopped, turning towards the now empty seat where Hardwon was previously sat.

“Hardwon?” asked Beverly. However, it seemed, that as they were talking they had been paying no mind to the man, who had managed to escape to the bathroom and was now suffering even more loudly.

He winced as he heard Hardwon heave and then say:

“I’m fine!”

“Pawpaw, mark that down as the fifth time that happens,” commented Moonshine before the two of them got up to check on him.

* * *

It took them half an hour before they managed to return back to the dining table and, by then, the food had already started going cold. Not that Beverly found himself caring too much about it especially as he and Moonshine began lightly teasing Hardwon, who only managed to eat little more after the accident.

Afterwards, though, Beverly found himself returning back to his room, his footsteps lighter than what he had been expecting and far lighter than what they had been just a year before. Like a plant, slowly growing, he found himself growing more hopeful for the year to come. 

Less terrible roommates and, maybe, less crying yourself to sleep because of the inherent loneliness that change brought in your life.

He found the delicate and tiny bluebell in it’s small potted plant waiting for him on the desk of his room and, even if the bluebell reminded him of Erlin and his childhood, it only helped for the hopeful feeling to grow even stronger.


End file.
